Clarinet neck attachment



Jan. 28, 1958 L. LEBLANC CLARINET NECK ATTACHMENT Filed Oct. 12, 1955 Z a "Tim F 1|\ l T il EMF ul If INVEN TOR. eamle2r20 United, States P en CLARINET NECK ATTACHMENT Leon Leblanc, Paris, France,'assignor to G. Leblanc Corporation, Kenosha, Wis., a corporation of Wiscousin Application October 12, 1955, Serial No. 540,093

6 Claims. (Cl. 84-382) This invention is concerned with the art of woodwind musical instruments, and more particularly with a joint or connection for a bass clarinet.

Clarinets and other woodwind instruments generally are made of wood. Although woodwinds occasionally may be made of other materials, it has been found that the best tone quality is found in a clarinet or the like when seasoned, Mozambique grenadilla wood is used for the instrument. For various reasons, including therequisite strength, the necessity of providing a shape which cannot be conveniently made from wood, and in view of the negligible adverse effect on tone quality, the necks of bass and alto clarinets conventionally are made of metal, generally nickel silver.

According to the usual practice, the upper body joint of an alto or bass clarinet is provided with a metal neck piece attachment or sleeve for receiving the metal neck or neck piece. The metal attachment and the wood of the body joint in which it is mounted have different coefficients of expansion. The coefficients of expansion for temperature are different, and more particularly the wood has a very high coefficient of moisture expansion, enlarging and contracting with the amount of moisture in the air and in the wood, whereas the metal is substantially unaffected by moisture. As a result, in prior art instruments with which I am familiar, the wood often has pulled away from the metal sufficiently to allow air leaks. More important, the wood has cracked due to stresses set up by different relative changes in dimension, and also by moisture collecting at this point. It will be appreciated that this is a location where a considerable amount of moisture collects, and it is thought that about 7590 percent of the cracks in this location are caused by moisture.

It is an object of this invention to provide an alto or bass clarinet which is not subject to such cracking.

Another object of this invention is to provide a neck piece attachment so associated with a wood body joint as to preclude cracking of the wood in the vicinity of the attachment.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide in combination a clarinet body of wood and a metal neck piece attachment having an insert therein taking up expansion and contraction, and thereby preventing cracking of the wood and leaking of air.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a bass clarinet in accordance with the principles of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view partially in section of the neck piece, neck piece attachment, and upper body joint;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal view mostly in cross-section taken substantially along the line 3-3 in Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line 4-4 in Fig. 2.

Referring now in greater particularity to the drawing,

2,821,102 Patented Jan. 28, 1958 ICC there is shown in Fig. 1 a bass clarinet generally designated by the numeral 10 and comprising an upper body joint 12 and a lower body joint 14. The joints preferably are detachably connected at 16, but it is to be understood that some bass clarinets have the upper and lower body joints formed integrally. At the bottom of the body there is provided the usual upwardly opening bell or horn 18, and at the upper end of the body there is provided the. usual neck or neck piece 20 in which the mouthpiece 22 is inserted. The foregoing parts are all of more or less known or conventional construction.

At the upper end of the upper body joint 12 as may be seen most particularly in Figs. 24, there is provided a neck piece attachment 24. As will be understood, the body joints 12 and 14 preferably are made of wood, while the neck or neck piece 20 is made of metal such as nickel silver. The neck piece attachment 24 also is made of metal, preferably nickel silver.

The neck piece attachment is of a tubular or cylindrical configuration and is in the nature of a bushing having a cylindrical body 26 inserted in the top of the body joint 12, and having a circumferential flange 28 at the upper end limiting the inward positioning of the attachment. The circumferential flange 28 is split as at 30, and a pair of lugs 32 is provided on opposite sides of this split. A threaded stud 34 extends through one of the lugs 32 and is threaded into the other, a wing or flap 3.6 being provided on the end of the stud for convenient adjustment thereof. lt will be understood that when the stud is threaded all the way in, it will draw the lugs 32 toward one another to narrow the split 30, and thereby to clamp the neck piece 20 within the attachment 24.

" The cylindrical metal body 26 of the attachment 24 is provided with an annular groove 38 extending substantially from end to end of the body 26. A cylindrical insert 40 of resilient or yieldable elastic material, preferably cork, fits in the recess and is interposed between the body 26 and the body joint 12.

A cylindrical collar 44 encircles the upper part of the body joint 12, the body joint being of reduced diameter at this point and a plurality of screws 46, there being three such screws in the illustrative embodiment, extends through this collar and through the adjacent part of the body joint, the screws being threaded into tapped apertures in the attachment 24, permanently to mount the attachment in place in the upper body joint with the cork interposed between the attachment and the body joint. It will be appreciated that the collar 44 serves as an anchor for the attachment, and also prevents, or tends to prevent, splitting of the upper end of the body joint. It will be appreciated from the drawing that the flange 28 determines the position of the attachment in the body joint, and this position also is determined by engagement of the lower end of the attachment with the shoulder at the bottom of the enlarged diameter portion in which the attachment fits.

It heretofore has been noted that the neck piece 20 is of conventional construction, and it will be observed that this neck piece includes a radially extending circumferential flange 48 to limit the inserted position of the neck piece in the attachment.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the herein described neck piece attachment is permanently mounted in place, and includes a cushioning element in the nature of cork or other resilient or elastic material which accommodates or takes up differences or variations in size due to relatively different changes in dimension of the wood of the body and the metal of the insert or attachment due to temperature and moisture changes. This substantially eliminates the possibility of air leaks and of cracks in the wood.

Various changes in structure will no doubt occur to {those skilledinzthe.artyandare to be understood as forming a part of this invention insofar as they fallwithin the spirit and scope of the appended claims. The invention is claimed as follows: 11.;A c1arinet construction comprisingrarbody of :wood

or the :like having :an axial bore therethroughpa metal vneck receiver, permanently; mounted'xthereinaand, a metal Ineck detachably received in saidtmetalkneck:receiver;:said :neck receivenincluding a cylindricalymetal bodythavingza circumferential; groove therein, a. :ring LOfhlESiliCl'lt material I in isaidqgroove, and extending radiallyoutwardly beyond said metal, .body,said:metal body beinginserted in thebore of said woodsbodyzwithsaid; resi-lientmaterial impinging againstsaid Wood-body, and meansxpermanently retaining said receiverimsaid bore.

2. :-A clarinet. construction as set fOIihliIllQlflilTL ltwherein the, ring ofzresilientm-aterial comprises cork.

3. Agclarinet construction.comprising.aabodyyofwood or thelike havingflannaxial' borez therethroughnar metal .neck receiver permanentlymountedz-therein,: andaLmetaI neck detachably received in:.said;receiver,; said necktreceiver including a cylindricalsmetal bodythavingpa. circumferentiabgroove ;ther'ein,;, a;;ring;of;.resilient :material inv said groove and extending.radiallyroutwardly: beyond said metal body, saidimetal. bodybeing inserted in the 'bore of. said wood bodyr withszsaid: resilienttmaterialim- 'pinging againstwsaid, wood: body; :said necktreceivert :fur-

ther including a clamping 1 portion rzprojecting .axially. outwardly beyond said'wood bodyilforrclamping =said .-neck -therein and, means .apermanent-ly rretainingi said. receiver bodyin said bore.

.4. A, clarinet.construction: comprising: av body: .ofwwood or the-like having'anuaxial bore'fttherethroughna.metal ,neck receiver permanently. mountedtherein;av'metal neck detachably '.held in said. receiven; saidzneck receiverizineluding a ,eylindricalmetal, body having a circumferential groove therein,.a ring of. re'silient.:rnaterial;in:said groove and extendingv radially outwardly beyond' said receiver body,.said receiver body. being inserted in thebore of said wood bodynwithsaid.resilientymateriali impinging against said .Wood body, a metal;collarlencircling said wood body, and screws extending radially inwardly through said wood body and saidxmetal collar andrthreaded into; said metal body: permanently torsecure saidvneck receiver inzsaid. bore.

"5. A clarinet construction comprising a body of wood or the like having an axial bore.therethrough,.a.metal neck receiver permanently mounted therein, a metal neck detachably received in said neck receiver, said neck receiver including a cylindrical metal body having a circumferential groove therein and a radially extending circnmferential flange at tonenend of said body, a ring of resilient material in said groove and extending radially outwardly; beyond said :receiver body; saidzreoeiver body being inserted in the bore of said wood body with said resilient material*irnpingingagainst said wood b.ody,-said 'fiange engaging against the end of said wood body and decumferential flange: at the outer end thereof, said flange and metal body having an axial slotztherein, a cork ring in; said-grooveand: extending radially, outwardly beyond saidr receiver body, said receiverbo dy beinginsertedfin the;bore,=of saidwood body :Wiih, said .cork impinging against said-wood body, meansextending across the axial ,slot rinssaid flange: and body'afor narrowing: said slot-t0 clamp said .tlange and body-detachably about said metal neck, a'metal collar-encircling:,said wood body adjacent ,the. upperendv thereof,and-azplurality of screws extend ing through said collar andthrough said wood'body and ,tappedinto said metal body pemanentlyitowretainsaid receiver in said bore.

References Cited in; the-file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,098,457 Loomis Nov. 9, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 342,602 "France July 11, 1904 .v 661,105 France Feb. 26, 1929 

